Windows Subsystem for Linux with GUI apps launches for Windows 10 - Ars Technica

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), one of the best reasons to run Windows 11, is now available to Windows 10 users, in the latest version and with all its features.

As part of its broader moving of key apps into its Store, Microsoft now offers the most feature-rich version of WSL there.

"The in-Windows version of WSL will still receive critical bug fixes, but the Store version of WSL is where new features and functionality will be added," Windows Developer Platform Program Manager Craig Loewen noted in a blog post.

Loewen noted that the "WSL community's requests" drove Microsoft to make the latest, GUI-ready framework version available to Windows 10 users.

I got the Store version of WSL running on my Windows 10 desktop, but only after five restarts and quite a bit of support forum wandering.

I visited "Turn Windows features on or off" from the Start menu (separate from "Manage optional features") multiple times to check and ensure that "Virtual Machine Platform," "Windows Hypervisor Platform," and "Windows Subsystem for Linux" were all enabled.

For someone who needs that one specific utility not offered on Windows, or is just Linux-curious without wanting to go the full partition-and-dual-boot route, it should be an easier on-ramp now that it's in the Microsoft Store.